


Family is Family

by TheAvengersMascot



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Community: norsekink, Family Feels, Gen, Implied Bullying, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Papa Bear Clint, Past Mind Control, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), de-aged loki, rampant use of italics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 11:03:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4826687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAvengersMascot/pseuds/TheAvengersMascot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint Barton never expected to feel sympathy for Loki, never mind feeling protective of him. That all changed when a de-aged mischief god was found wandering the streets outside of an abandoned compound. A year later it's hard to imagine his family without the little tyke. </p><p>That is, until a visitor from Asgard shows up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family is Family

**Author's Note:**

> Just FYI, Loki is about the equivalent of an Asgardian four year-old.
> 
> Filled for this [norsekink prompt.](http://norsekink.livejournal.com/13205.html?thread=33881237#t33881237)
> 
>  _Disclaimer_ : All characters belong to Marvel.

The dark clouds rolled in from nowhere. Clint watched them approach the farm with wary eyes. The clouds were black and heavy, with plenty of lightning but no rain. That was no ordinary storm on the horizon. Clouds like that meant only one thing. The moment he had been expecting had arrived, the one he knew was coming ever since the kid wandered out into the street in front of him. All things considered, he thought it would have happened sooner. It was a pretty big secret to keep. With so many people at Avengers HQ who knew about the kid it was only a matter of time before word got around to Thor. Then again, Thor was gone to Asgard for longer and longer these days and Clint himself was semi-retired. So maybe it wasn't so much of surprise that the kid stayed a secret for almost a year.

"Daddy?" a little voice broke into his thoughts.

Clint turned just as a flash of lightning lit up the sky over the house. His daughter stood at the top of the stairs to the porch. "Go back inside, Lila."

"Aren't you coming in?" she asked. Thunder rumbled overhead, making her cast her eyes nervously up to the sky.

"I will. There's just something I have to take care of out here."

"In the storm?"

Clint tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I have a feeling it's going to clear up any minute. Can you go back inside and keep your brothers company? I think the thunder might scare them a bit."

"Okay."

He watched her go, pigtails swinging back and forth as she trotted obediently back into the house. His daughter took being a big sister very seriously which came in handy when the number of her little brothers doubled literally overnight.

_"How is this possible?" Laura asked._

_"No clue, but it's him," Clint replied._

_The two of them stared through the two-way mirror at the little boy shivering on the exam table in the isolation room. The harsh fluorescent lights made the tear tracks on his round cheeks shine. He was wearing only his underwear with a thin hospital blanket wrapped around shoulders so pale it was hard to tell where the blanket ended and they began. His left hand was rubbing the spot on his right arm where the needle went in to collect blood samples. Clint had no idea where they'd previously gotten a sample of his DNA for comparison but that didn't really matter, not when the match was confirmed. The skinny little boy with the dark hair and green eyes was Loki._

_"Does he know who he is?"_

_"He knows his name, but that's about it. He's asked for his mother a few times now. They've tried asking him about New York and Thor but as far as we can tell, he's got no memory of either."_

_"What's going to happen to him?"_

_"It hasn't been decided."_

_She glanced at him. "You don't think Thor will want him back?"_

_Clint crossed his arms. "I'm sure he will, but I don't think that's a good idea."_

_"Why?"_

_"You haven't heard the stories Thor's told us about when they were kids. The stuff he called 'fun' would be grounds for Child Protective Services to take them into custody here."_

_"Oh god," Laura murmured._

_"Yeah."_

_"They're not going to keep him locked up here, are they?"_

_"I don't know. It's not like they can just turn him over to foster care or something. Someone will have to keep an eye on him." Clint turned away from the mirror so he was facing her directly. "That's actually why I wanted you to come down here. I need to talk to you about something."_

Sure enough, not ten seconds after Lila went inside, Clint spotted a red dot against the clouds. It quickly grew to take the shape of a familiar man. Thor landed with enough force that Clint felt the ground shake around his feet.

"Where is he?" Thor demanded.

"Nice to see you too."

_"Where?"_

"Thor, listen man-"

"How dare you keep this from me!"

"Okay, no. You don't get to pull that shit," Clint retorted. "This isn't about you."

Thor hefted Mjolnir up and pointed it at Clint's face. Another rumble of thunder rolled above them. "Loki is my brother. I have every right to-"

"To what, Thor?" Clint cut him off. "To haul him back into Asgard's oh-so-loving embrace? You told us yourself, the Asgardians still think Loki's a traitor even after he helped with the whole dark elf trying to end the universe thing."

"You speak of what you do not know," Thor scoffed.

"Well I only know what you've told us and let me tell you something. If anyone treated my kids the way you and your friends treated each other, I'd call the police."

Thor shook his head. "You are not of Asgard. You couldn't possibly understand."

Clint laughed. "Maybe you're right. I don't understand Asgard, but you know what I do understand? I understand having a big brother who was supposed to look out for me and have my back. I understand what it feels like to have him abandon me."

An impressively loud clap of thunder boomed overhead accenting Thor's offended expression. "I never-"

"Save it. I'm not going to argue with you."

Thor's face softened a bit. "Then you will turn him over to me?"

"No." Before Thor could start arguing again, Clint added, "We're all he knows now, Thor. He doesn't remember you."

_Clint opened the door to the isolation room. Green eyes flew over to him, alarmingly perceptive for such a young face. For a moment, all Clint saw was those same eyes boring into his just before the sceptre was pressed to his chest and his mind was taken over. But the moment passed and all that was left was the sight of a frightened child huddled on the exam table in front of him. Clint smiled, trying to put some warmth into his expression. It wasn't that hard really. All he had to do was picture one of his own kids sitting where Loki was now and any remaining ill-will melted away._

_"Hey, little guy," he said, walking over to the table and dropping into a crouch so he wasn't looming over the kid. "How's it goin'?"_

_Loki shrugged, or maybe shivered, Clint couldn't tell under the blanket._

_"Are you okay? You need anything, something to eat or drink?"_

_"I want my mama," Loki said, so soft it was hard to make out._

_Clint's heart broke a little more. He could still remember Thor's haunted face relaying how his mother was killed in battle. He didn't want to see the same expression on the face of a toddler. "I know buddy, I know. But she... we can't reach her."_

_Loki's lower lip quivered. "Why?"_

_"Because... she's somewhere very far away and she can't come here."_

_"B-but I miss her." The sentence was punctuated by a sniffle, which was very soon followed by fresh tears streaming from his eyes._

_Clint rose and slid onto the table next to Loki, wrapping an arm around his tiny shoulders. "I know. This sucks, doesn't it? Believe me, if there was any way to get her here, we'd do it."_

_Loki just kept on crying. He was so quiet about it, it unnerved Clint. His own kids could wail at a decibel level that made his ears ring but Loki made almost no noise at all. A soft shuffling sound made Clint look up to the doorway. Laura was standing there, a wet shine in her eyes. She said nothing but she nodded. He nodded in return and bent his head back down to look at Loki._

_"I know you're scared, but it's going to be okay. We're going to take care of you. You're not alone, all right?"_

_Loki wiped his runny nose with the edge of the blanket and looked up at Clint, then Laura. She smiled at him when their eyes met. Loki returned it with a small shaky smile of his own._

"We're his family now," Clint told Thor. "You're not going to take him."

"You truly think you could stop me?" Thor challenged.

"Maybe not alone, but it's not just me you have to worry about. You'll have to get past Laura and the kids too. They're not going to let him go without a fight. You barge in there now you'll not only tear Loki away from the only family he knows but you'll scare the shit out of my kids, probably traumatize them. You really want to do that?"

Thor's gaze drifted up to something behind Clint's head. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Cooper looking out the window at them. Laura came up behind their son and ushered him away from the window. She gave Clint a questioning look and he answered with a brief shake of his head, waving her off. After hesitating a bit, she too left the window. Clint turned back to Thor, whose temper seemed to have cooled off a little. The reminder of who else was in the house seemed like it gave him pause. 

"Look," Clint said, pressing on now that Thor was in more of a listening mood. "I get that Loki's still your brother to you but he doesn't know you anymore, definitely not the way you know him. When he's older and can actually understand what it means we can introduce you to him but for now, he's better off with people he knows." _And people he knows love him,_ Clint didn't add.

When Thor just stood there in silence, Clint sighed. 

"Come here." He turned and headed up the porch steps. When Thor didn't follow right away, he repeated himself. "Come here."

Thor's boots thumped up the wooden stairs. He followed Clint over to the window that looked into the living room. Lila was sitting on the couch with Nathaniel in her lap and a story book open in front of them. Cooper was chasing Loki around the room while Loki shrieked with glee. When Cooper caught him, he scooped Loki up in his arms and tickled him until he howled with laughter. Laura watched over the them all with a smile as she put the finishing touches on their supper.

For a while Clint just watched Thor watching his brother. At some point Loki got the upper hand—or more likely Cooper let him get the upper hand—and he was sitting on top of the older boy tickling him. Thor watched the boys playing with a stony face. There was something in his eyes that Clint couldn't quite identify. Regret maybe, with some grief mixed in.

"He won't stay with us forever, I know that," Clint said. "Hell, he's going to outlive us all by a few thousand years. Right now though, he's where he should be. He's safe and he's happy. What more do you want?"

"He will stay that way," Thor said after an interminable pause. From the tone Clint couldn't tell if it was a question or a promise but either way, his answer was the same.

"As long as I have anything to say about it, yeah, he will."

After another lengthy pause, Thor backed away from the window. He went back down the porch stairs and strode toward the open yard. About twenty feet away from the house, he hesitated and looked back.

"I will be watching, Barton. Should anything happen..."

As tempting as it was to give a snarky response to the unspoken threat, Clint held back. "Trust me, Thor. He's in good hands."

Thor nodded and his eyes slid away from Clint and over to the house. "I... I was not the brother I should have been to Loki. I would give anything to change that."

"I know." And he did. Clint knew Thor was nothing if not sincere.

"I thought... when I heard Loki was..."

Damn it all if Thor didn't look like a kid who was just told his dog died. It was so painful to look at Clint had to throw him a bone. "You'll get your chance, Thor. Just not today."

With visible effort, Thor dragged his gaze from the house. "Thank you, Barton."

Saying 'you're welcome' didn't exactly feel right so Clint just gave him a nod. Thor spun Mjolnir in his hand and was gone as fast as he'd come. Almost immediately the dark sky began to lighten and Clint heaved a sigh of relief. He really had no idea what he would have done if Thor hadn't listened to reason. Peals of laughter coming from the house brought his attention back and he headed inside to join his family. Loki was the first one to come running to meet him.

"Papa! Papa, look!" He was waving a piece of paper in his hand.

Clint smiled. No matter how often he heard his siblings use Mommy and Daddy, for Loki it was always Mama and Papa. Laura said it was because some things were just too deeply ingrained. She was probably right. She usually was.

"What'cha got there?" He took the paper from Loki, a colourful crayon drawing of their family. Off to one side in the background was a golden castle and on the other side was the barn. Memories of Loki's old life mixing with his new. "Wow. That's great, buddy. I think it goes on the fridge. What do you think?"

Loki's head eagerly bobbed up and down. Clint handed back the drawing and Loki ran with it into the kitchen.

"All right everybody," Laura called out. "Dinner time. Come on. Everyone at the table."

Clint herded the other three kids to the kitchen. As he watched them all climb into their seats, he smiled to himself. Their family turned out to be a bit bigger and a bit stranger than they planned, but at times like this all he could think was how right it felt. Once everybody started digging in, he looked toward the window. Outside, the sun was shining.

**Author's Note:**

> (I promise I really am still working on my Thor 2 fic. I've gotten more work done on it this month than I did all summer.)
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think. (I do answer every comment)
> 
> You can also come say Hi to me on tumblr at [ theclassicblunders](http://theclassicblunders.tumblr.com).


End file.
